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Climate Change Could Undo Global Children’s Health Gains, Study Finds

The relationship between Zika virus and microcephaly is one example of how climate change impacts children's health. CDC

In the past 25 years, the world has made major progress improving child health and reducing child mortality. But all that hard work could be undone by climate change, a study published in Pediatrics Tuesday warned.

Pediatricians Dr. Kevin Chan of Memorial University and Dr. Rebecca Pass Philipsborn of the Emory University School of Medicine found that 88 percent of the disease burden associated with climate change would fall on children's shoulders, CNN reported Tuesday.

"The basic message is that climate change is occurring, and I think it disproportionately affects the most vulnerable populations, and that includes children," Chan told CNN.

The article noted that major changes to the global climate are projected to occur within the lifetime of current pediatrics patients, but this isn't just a problem for the near future.

"We already have seen the impacts," Chan told CNN.

As examples, Chan cited the health impacts on children caught up in heat waves or more intense storms like Hurricanes Katrina, Harvey and Irma.

Chan also mentioned the spread of the Zika virus, which some studies have linked to climate change. Zika disproportionately impacts children because it can cause an incurable birth defect called microcephaly that causes babies to be born with undersized heads and underdeveloped brains.

Director of the program on climate and health at George Mason University's Center for Climate Change Communication Dr. Mona Sarfaty, who was not involved with the research, told CNN that her experience supported its conclusions.

"Children suffer more heat impacts because they spend more time outside. They are more vulnerable to the heat-related increases in air pollution that come from fossil fuel exhaust, because their lungs are still developing. Outdoor play also makes them more prey to insect vectors carrying dangerous infections," Sarfaty said. "The doctors in our societies are seeing these problems today, and they will undoubtedly get worse if we don't decisively address climate change," she added.

In addition to air pollution, heat and the spread of disease-carrying mosquitoes, the study found that climate change could put children at greater risk from malnutrition, as weather extremes impact food production, and from water-borne infections causing diarrhea, which can also spread in higher temperatures.

The study cited research by the Word Health Organization (WHO), also cited by EcoWatch, that projected that climate change could lead to 95,000 deaths due to childhood malnutrition and 48,000 deaths of children under 15 due to diarrhea by 2030.

Chan thought the study indicated a need for more research into how climate change impacts children specifically.

"A lot of the research is very, very broad and tends to look more at adult populations. I don't think they factor in the specific impacts on children themselves, and I think more research is needed in that arena," Chan told CNN. "We really need more efforts into addressing climate change to protect our children," he said.

The world of food and drug regulation was rocked earlier this month by the news of a change in leadership at the Food and Drug Administration. Commissioner Scott Gottlieb resigned and will step down in early April. His temporary replacement is Dr. Ned Sharpless, director of the National Cancer Institute.

On Wednesday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the first 20 chemicals it plans to prioritize as "high priority" for assessment under the Toxic Substances Control Act. Given the EPA's record of malfeasance on chemicals policy over the past two years, it is clear that these are chemicals that EPA is prioritizing to ensure that they are not properly evaluated or regulated.

Strawberries top the Environmental Working Group's "Dirty Dozen" list of U.S. produce most contaminated with pesticides. DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP / Getty Images

Which conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables in the U.S. are most contaminated with pesticides? That's the question that the Environmental Working Group answers every year with its "Dirty Dozen" list of produce with the highest concentration of pesticides after being washed or peeled.

A U.S. federal judge temporarily blocked oil and gas drilling on 300,000 acres of federal leases in Wyoming Tuesday, arguing that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) "did not sufficiently consider climate change" when auctioning off the land, The Washington Post reported.

A report published Wednesday names the banks that have played the biggest recent role in funding fossil fuel projects, finding that since 2016, immediately following the Paris agreement's adoption, 33 global banks have poured $1.9 trillion into financing climate-changing projects worldwide.

Sriram Madhusoodanan of Corporate Accountability speaking on conflict of interest demand of the People's Demands at a defining action launching the Demands at COP24. Corporate Accountability

By Patti Lynn

2018 was a groundbreaking year in the public conversation about climate change. Last February, The New York Times reported that a record percentage of Americans now believe that climate change is caused by humans, and there was a 20 percentage point rise in "the number of Americans who say they worry 'a great deal' about climate change."